"I in fact find it hard to understand the motives, especially being aware of that sensitive issue, that there have really been such cases in Ukraine. It really moved us all," he told the Žinių Radijas news radio on Thursday.

The prime minister stressed, however, that it's difficult to judge the situation from the side, without having any more information about the operation and its circumstances.

Babchenko appeared alive at the Ukrainian Security Service's news conference on Wednesday, a day after it was reported that he had died from several gunshots to the back in the stairwell of his apartment building in Kiev.

Vasyl Hrytsak, the head of the Security Service, told reporters that Babchenko' death had been faked as part of a "special operation" to foil an attempt on his life.